The present invention relates to a new and distinct perennial variety of Vaccinium hybrid (Southern Highbush Blueberry), which has been given the variety denomination of ‘C97-390’. Its market class is that of a fruiting plant. ‘C97-390’ is intended for use as fresh fruit for shipping, customer pick and processing markets and as a home garden plant.
The new Vaccinium hybrid cultivar is a selection resulting from seedlings produced in a controlled breeding programme of Vaccinium at Gainesville, Fla., USA in 1994 from a cross of seed parent ‘F92-84’ (unpatented) and pollen parent ‘F95-54’ (unpatented). The new cultivar was discovered and selected as a single plant within a population of plants of Vaccinium hybrids in 1997 in a commercial field plantation environment at Corindi Beach, New South Wales, Australia. Selection criteria was a combination of upright to bushy plant shape and strong plant growth vigor, evergreen foliage, earliness of flowering and fruiting, large fruit size, firm fruit suited to handling, attractive dark blue fruit color and small picking scar. The selection was subsequently evaluated for a number of years at the commercial farms of BerryExchange at Corindi Beach, New South Wales, Australia.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by cutting propagation since 1997 at Corindi Beach, New South Wales, Australia and has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.
The new variety has been primarily compared to the variety ‘Sharpe Blue’ (unpatented). In Corindi Beach, New South Wales, Australia the time of fruit ripening of ‘C97-390’ is classified as very early to early whereas the time of fruit ripening of ‘Sharpe Blue’ is classified as ‘mid-season’. The earlier time of fruit ripening of ‘C97-390’ allows for a greater period of production on farm and an ability to supply fresh fruit markets at an earlier date than ‘Sharpe Blue’. The time of vegetative bud burst of ‘C97-390’ is ‘late’ whereas the time of vegetative bud burst of ‘Sharpe Blue’ is ‘early to mid-season’. The time of beginning of flowering of ‘C97-390’ is classified as ‘very early to early’ whereas the time of beginning of flowering of time of ‘Sharpe Blue’ is classified as ‘early to mid-season’. The time of fruit ripening of ‘C97-390’ is classified as ‘very early to early’ whereas ‘Sharpe Blue’ is classified as ‘mid-season’. Therefore one of the attributes of the new variety is that it has vegetative bud burst later than ‘Sharpe Blue’, yet it flowers and ripens earlier than ‘Sharpe Blue’. The plant growth habit of ‘C97-390’ is ‘upright to bushy’ whereas the plant growth habit of ‘Sharpe Blue’ is ‘bushy to spreading’. The leaf width of ‘C97-390’ is ‘medium’ (25–30 mm) whereas the leaf width of ‘Sharpe Blue’ is ‘broad’ (40–45 mm). The berry color of ‘C97-390’ is a dark blue whereas the berry color of ‘Sharpe Blue’ is a lighter blue. The berry firmness of ‘C97-390’ is firm whereas ‘Sharpe Blue’ is soft. The picking scar of ‘C97-390’ is classified as ‘dry’ whereas the picking scar of ‘Sharpe Blue’ is ‘wet’. This combination of fruiting attributes results in ‘C97-390’ being a more suitable variety for commercial handling including picking and packing than ‘Sharpe Blue’.